Trump says he believes Putin, not United States intelligence committee, on election hacking

Putin has long insisted that the Kremlin had nothing to do with the hacking, denials that Trump said the Russian leader repeated during their private meeting Monday.

"I think it's kept us apart", Trump continued.

The dossier written by former British spy Christopher Steele was based on Kremlin sources.

"This answer by President Trump will be seen by Russian Federation as a sign of weakness and create far more problems than it solves", Graham wrote on Twitter.

Trump has repeatedly expressed skepticism about Russian involvement in the hacking while being accused by Democrats of cozying up to the Russian president.

Trump said he and Putin would discuss a range of issues, from trade to the military, along with missiles and China. "Well, distinguished colleague, let me tell you this: When President Trump was at Moscow back then, I didn't even know that he was in Moscow".

Not only is that an embarrassing disregard for President Trump, but it echoes world outrage last week, when Trump was late for his meeting with the UK's Queen Elizabeth.

"Even during the tensions of the Cold War, when the world looked much different than it does today, Russian Federation and the U.S. were able to maintain a strong dialogue", he said. "I don't even remember the last names of each and every one of them".

The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russian Federation, making it highly doubtful the Kremlin would ever voluntarily send over the defendants to be prosecuted in an American court. Guccifer 2.0 said it would be a "great pleasure" to help. Well, a ridiculous Putin commitment to support dialogue in Syria (a lie measured by Russian bombs and chemical weapon scrubbing teams), and Putin's call for Ukraine to support peace accords that Russia rampages over every day.

Trump seemed to return the favor by waiting until Putin had arrived at the palace before leaving his hotel.

The indictment does not answer the question of whether the Russians were reacting to Trump's speech. The Foreign Ministry said it agreed with Trump's criticism of the "stupid and foolish" policy of previous American governments on Russian Federation. Can you name any facts that definitively prove collusion?

Disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok told a joint House committee last week that the FBI received from Associate Attorney General Bruce Ohr sections of the dossier during the investigation into Russian Federation election interference.

He gave a football to Mr Trump, who revealed he had watched several "soccer games".

Trump is also under pressure from Britain to press Putin over the nerve agent poisoning of four people in southern England. He said if Russian Federation had compiled dirt on him, "It would have been out long ago". Instead, Bush went to Ground Zero in New York City, wrapped his arm around a person searching the rubble for bodies, and clutched a megaphone to declare, "I can hear you!"

Putin also relayed the same message, both in his prepared remarks at the beginning of the press conference and later when taking questions from pool journalists.

Putin said it was "nonsense" to think Russian Federation meddled in the 2016 election. He noted that, like many countries, the United States has an extradition treaty with Russian Federation, where a country agrees to turn over someone in one country who is accused of criminal activity in another. "It will be determined by the heads of state themselves as they go along". "What about Hillary Clinton's emails?" "It might have been legal, the contribution itself, but the way the money was earned was illegal".

Putin said that the United States should submit formal paperwork to extradite the military intelligence officers and that he would consider it. "So we have an interest of questioning them".

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a news conference on Friday the GRU officers hacked state election offices and secretaries of state, as well as the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Again, witnessing these vintage Putin games, Trump just nodded along.